The vision of North DeSoto Upper Elementary is to: “Provide opportunities for students to achieve their personal best, become responsible and productive members of society, and embrace lifelong learning in a positive environment”.
North DeSoto Upper Elementary
Vision Statement
Mission Statement
LOVE LEARNING, EXCEL IN ALL WE DO, ACHIEVE GOALS TOGETHER, DO WHAT IS RIGHT
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Thurs., Aug. 29 - ELA Parent Night 6-7:30p (childcare provided)
Sat., Aug. 31 - Last Day to order Pizza Card
Mon., Sept. 2 - Labor Day - No School
Tues., Sept. 3 - S/P/T Conference Day ~ Virtual Day for Students
Thurs., Sept. 5 - Cookie Dough Fundraiser Kickoff
Fri., Sept. 6 - Concessions begin
Thurs., Sept 12 - Math Parent Night 6-7:30p (childcare provided)
Wed., Sept 18 - Fall Picture Day
Fri., Sept. 20 - Cookie Dough Fundraiser Ends
Thurs., Sept 26 - SS/SCI Parent Night 6-7:30p (childcare provided)
Mon-Fri., Oct 7-11 - Fall Break
ELA PARENT NIGHT
We are excited to host families for our first Academic Parent Night of the year. This informational and interactive meeting will help you to best support your child in their literacy development. Childcare will be provided by our Family Engagement Team for parents who attend. Light refreshments will be served. Your NDUE student will receive an incentive for your attendance and the ELA teacher with the highest attendance percentage will get a free concession dollar for all their students! We look forward to learning with you.
STUDENT/PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES
At NDUE, students are expected to attend conferences with their parent. These meetings are student-led and teacher facilitated. Your child will present their student work portfolio to you, while teachers will be available to discuss progress and answer any questions. These conferences are from 3-6pm and are open house style. If your child's teacher needs a private conference, they will reach out directly to schedule a separate meeting between 11am-2pm. Attendance is strongly encouraged and students will receive an incentive ticket for attending.
GRADING SCALE
All NDUE students will receive letter grades this school year. Your student should have at least 1 new graded assignment posted per week. Daily grades are weighted at 25% and Tests are 75% of their overall grade.
This summer, new guidance from the state adjusted all public school grading to a 10 point grading scale. Achievement levels such as Advanced, Mastery, Basic, Approaching Basic, and Unsatisfactory can be equated to letter grades. The goal for grade level work is Mastery. A Mastery level performance in the classroom would be in the A/B range.
At NDUE, we reward students for achieving their personal goals on Tests rather than focusing on the letter grade. We ask that parents do the same. All students develop different skills at different rates and it is important that we celebrate their growth. Reaching your PERSONAL goal is the most important thing to encourage at home. Students’ academic goals are set from previous school year data such as DIBELS data, Diagnostic Screeners, previous performance, and LEAP results, We have not officially set these goals with students yet due to working through our beginning of year screeners but we will have those in place by our first Proficency Test.
PARENT COMMUNICATION
All school notes, homework, and student portfolios will go home on Mondays. Please check your student's backpack each Monday and return any needed forms promptly. We use DOJO as part of our positive behavior system and will message parents through the rooms app as needed throughout the year. Also, please feel free to utilize email or call the school from 7:15-3:15 M-F. All staff members' email are firstname.lastname@desotopsb.com.
HOMEWORK POLICY
We need your help to reach our FLUENCY goals this school year. Weekly homework packets will be sent home on Mondays. This work will support fluency in students' core subject areas. Although there is no penalty for students who do not complete homework, we will be rewarding and tracking homework completion this year. We strongly recommend students spend no more than 20 minutes or 5 minutes per subject per night 3 nights per week on homework. Zearn, Myon, and math fluency practice are all supporting activities available to students and are great additional ways to support fluency.
STUDENT INCENTIVE GOALS
At NDUE, we reward our students for reaching their personal goals. Each child has individual goals for AR, Zearn, and DOJO. There are many incentives tied to each goal.
AR: Students take the STAR test which sets their AR goal and book checkout range for the semester. Students are each given a personalized goal. Students that reach their goal 3 out of 4 of the 9 weeks will attend the AR celebration at Altitude in May. Word count prizes are given during the morning assembly and vary by grade level. Students who achieve their AR goals all four 9 weeks will also attend BOOK BINGO. Million Word (4th & 5th), ¾ Million Word (3rd), and ½ Million Word (2nd) club members get to go on a special field trip to Raising Canes.
ZEARN: Students have a personal goal of 2 lessons per week. For every 12 lessons completed, a student earns a GLOW bracelet. When students reach the 50,75,100, and 125 lesson mark, they will be honored in the morning assembly and will receive a special GLOW prize. Students who meet their Zearn goal three of the four 9 weeks will attend our GLOW Party in May.
DOJO: Students with 85% positive DOJO and NO referrals will attend the incentive club of their choice and will be allowed to wear free dress on this day. Students who achieve 95% positive DOJO for the year and NO referrals will attend our DOJO celebration at Hot Wheels Skating Palace in May.
LUNCH MENU
FOLLOW US
Website: https://www.desotopsb.com/o/north-desoto-ue
Facebook: Follow our page: North DeSoto Upper Elementary
